Wolfe Research Begins Coverage on Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD)

Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) in a research note published on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $110.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

GILD has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Gilead Sciences from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Gilead Sciences from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Gilead Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Maxim Group lowered shares of Gilead Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Gilead Sciences from $94.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gilead Sciences currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.00.

Gilead Sciences Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ GILD opened at $88.46 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $86.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.27. Gilead Sciences has a 52-week low of $62.07 and a 52-week high of $98.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $110.24 billion, a PE ratio of 982.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.17.

Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.44. The business had revenue of $7.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.01 billion. Gilead Sciences had a return on equity of 29.00% and a net margin of 0.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.29 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gilead Sciences will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gilead Sciences Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.77 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $3.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. Gilead Sciences’s payout ratio is 3,422.22%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Johanna Mercier sold 29,357 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.78, for a total transaction of $2,459,529.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 78,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,545,480.06. This trade represents a 27.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Merdad Parsey sold 25,590 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $91.50, for a total transaction of $2,341,485.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 99,599 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,113,308.50. The trade was a 20.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,947 shares of company stock worth $4,968,674 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gilead Sciences

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 79.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 33,162,319 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,780,329,000 after acquiring an additional 14,680,161 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Gilead Sciences by 50.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,600,676 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,900,921,000 after purchasing an additional 11,665,593 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Gilead Sciences in the 1st quarter worth $134,489,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Gilead Sciences by 350.1% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,305,270 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $193,274,000 after buying an additional 1,793,145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gilead Sciences by 8,238.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,642,504 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $137,708,000 after buying an additional 1,622,806 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.67% of the company’s stock.

Gilead Sciences Company Profile

Gilead Sciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and commercializes medicines in the areas of unmet medical need in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company provides Biktarvy, Genvoya, Descovy, Odefsey, Truvada, Complera/ Eviplera, Stribild, Sunlencs, and Atripla products for the treatment of HIV/AIDS; Veklury, an injection for intravenous use, for the treatment of COVID-19; and Epclusa, Harvoni, Vemlidy, and Viread for the treatment of viral hepatitis.